Outer Heaven (South Africa)
Outer Heaven was an armed mercenary stronghold located in South Africa. It was the headquarters of Big Boss' private mercenary company of the same name. Its purpose was to offer soldiers a life outside the control of the Patriots, where they would always have a place, whether it be in battle or in society in general. A gathering place for the world's foremost mercenaries, Outer Heaven dispatched arms and soldiers to battlegrounds throughout the world with the intent to control wars.Metal Gear Solid 4 Database ("Bombing of Outer Heaven"), Kojima Productions (2008). History Located 200 km north of Galzburg, the fortress of Outer Heaven was established by Big Boss in the late 1980s. Architectural engineer Kyle Schneider was forced to participate in the design of the fortress''Metal Gear - User's Manual'', Konami Corporation (1987)., while robotics scientist Drago Pettrovich Madnar was forced to develop TX-55 Metal Gear. Outer Heaven also began taking prisoners, most of who were members of the local resistance opposed to its regime. Venom Snake, who served as Big Boss' double, took command of Outer Heaven while his commander returned to the U.S. military to helm special forces unit FOXHOUND. During Operation Intrude N313, the fortress was infiltrated by Solid Snake, who sabotaged Metal Gear. The fortress was subsequently destroyed after its self-destruct sequence was enacted, and Venom Snake was killed by Solid Snake. Afterwards, NATO launched a massive aerial bombardment against Outer Heaven. A pinpoint strike was executed on Outer Heaven’s nuclear weapons facility using bunker-busting bombs. Layout The majority of the fortress comprised three main buildings separated by stretches of desert. The floors in each of the buildings were color-coded by ground: 1F = Red ground, 2F = Blue ground, 3F = Dark gray ground, 4F = Dark blue, and B = Dark green with brick walls. The last two rooms in Building 3 had mostly the same colors as Building 1 3F. There were also a number of smaller buildings, which were possibly used as barracks or armories. To the south of the first building was a body of water. Building 1 The first floor of the building housed the main hangar to the west, where tanks and military trucks were stationed. German Shepherds were also kept in the inner courtyard, to guard against any intruders and to possibly prevent prisoners from escaping. There were two elevators, one on the left, and one on the right. The former only had access to floors 1 and 3, and the latter had access to all floors (including the roof). The second floor of the building. Machinegun Kid was a guard in this area. This may have been the area where technologies relating to HALO/HAHO jumps and infrared vision were developed, as infrared goggles and a parachute were located on this floor. The third floor of the building housed several gassed rooms to deter intruders. This floor may have been Outer Heaven's weapons factory as there were many weapons stored here. The roof of Building 1 served as a landing area for Outer Heaven gunships, due to the fact that a Hind D was stationed here. Also, a wind barrier was installed on the roof, which prevented anyone from getting across to the other side of the building.Metal Gear (re-release), Kojima Productions (2006). Big Boss: This is Big Boss... I forgot to tell you. There's a wind barrier on the roof. Look for a bomb suit! ...Over. Air Troopers were deployed here, so they could keep watch over the entire area to the south. The basement housed the main prison block of the fortress. Shotmaker served as the sole guard in this area, along with several attack dogs. There was also a secret passageway between the basements of Building 1 and 2.Metal Gear (re-release), Kojima Productions (2006). Schneider: This is Resistance Leader Schneider... A secret underground passageway starts from the south-west corner of the base in Building 1. ...Over. Desert 1 There were a few deserts around the Outer Heaven fortress and it is possible they were interconnected. The first was located between Buildings 1 and 2. Due to the fact that mines were set up in the south of this area, as well as the deployment of military trucks and, sometimes, even a tank, this desert may have been used to train Outer Heaven soldiers in desert warfare. Building 2 This was possibly the main R&D building, since this was where Dr. Madnar was held. It was located 10 km north of Building 1. Occasionally when a suspected infiltration operation was being conducted by the enemy, a checkpoint was set up in order to make sure no one could enter without proper clearance as a result of FOXHOUND's infiltration.Metal Gear (re-release), Kojima Productions (2006). Big Boss: This is Big Boss... Inspections. Wear the enemy uniform and infiltrate! A radio jamming field was also installed within the base in the event that an intruder somehow managed to bypass the checkpoint.Metal Gear (re-release), Kojima Productions (2006). Big Boss: This is Big Boss... They are trying to jam our signal, but we are OK on this frequency. ...Over. This conversation takes place after finding the Antenna. Both Building 2 and Building 3 were connected via a water channel.Metal Gear (re-release), Kojima Productions (2006). POW: The water channel goes to building 3. The first floor seemed to had waterways, which were connected to Building 3. An armored bulldozer was utilized here. Like Building 1, there were two elevators, but they were color-coded in red and blue respectively. The red elevator only went up, and the blue elevator only went down. The second floor of Building 2 was possibly where Outer Heaven's R&D center was located, since Dr. Madnar was held here. Two Bloody Brad units were deployed here, to guard many of the important areas on this floor. The roof of Building 2 was guarded by Air Troopers. The basement of Building 2, like that of Building 1, was primarily used to detain prisoners. In fact, Building 1 and 2 shared the same basement via a secret passageway. Most of the corridors were gassed. Fire Trooper guarded the basement's red West Elevator. Desert 2 This desert was located between Buildings 2 and 3. There were a few trucks parked outside Building 3, which sometimes drove over to the courtyard of Building 1, implying that this desert was part of a military supply route. Also, scorpions seemed to be prevalent in most of the area, with soldiers and/or personnel being advised to carry antidotes, when travelling between the two buildings on foot. Since there were no discernible landmarks in this 20 km stretch of desert, a compass was necessary to get between the two buildings. Building 3 The building where TX-55 Metal Gear was stationed. It was located 20 km north of Building 2. Technically, this was more of an underground bunker as there was only one above-ground floor, with an elevator leading to a bunker 100 stories below the surface. Because of it housing Metal Gear, it was rigged with an immense amount of traps and security equipment, such as gun cameras that fired lasers, poison gas, pit traps, and electrified floors. Other than the elevator up to the top floor, the only other known method of leaving the base were three ladders that led up to the ground surface, and even then, only the leftmost ladder actually went up to the surface: The middle stopped first, and the rightmost stopped second. Besides the area containing the elevator to the 100th basement level, Building 3 was also where Dirty Duck was often stationed: the building (where Dirty Duck was located) was interconnected with Building 2 via a drainage ditch, and contained four rooms and an electrified floor. Security systems The fortress encompassed many types of security systems to deter enemy intruders, some complex and unique. *Attack dogs (11; present in Building 1 basement and courtyard) *Card key system for opening doors (each door corresponds to a specific card, from 1-8) *Gun cameras (6) *Electrified floors (5) *Infrared sensors (2; both fixed and random-patterned) *Pit traps (23; with built-in pressure sensors) *Poison gas (9) *Rolling cylinders (4; giant automated machinery which roll from one side of a room to the other) *Surveillance cameras (11) *Venomous scorpions (24; provide a natural deterrence for traversing Desert 2) *Wind barrier (Building 1 rooftop) Military resources (1995) Personnel *Big Boss (founder) *Venom Snake (commander; Big Boss's phantom) *Mercenaries **Dirty Duck **Fire Trooper **Machinegun Kid **Shotmaker (prison warden) **Vulcan Raven *Other **Drago Pettrovich Madnar decoy **TX-11 "Bloody Brad" cyberoid (2) Military hardware *Land vehicles **Armored bulldozer (1) **Cargo trucks (18) **Heavy tanks (at least 20) ***Outer Heaven tank (at least 1) ***M60 Pattons (at least 19) **TX-55 Metal Gear (under development) *Aircraft **Hind D gunship (at least 1) **Jet packs *Personal weapons **C4 plastic explosive **Land mine **MAC-11 sub-machinegun (with suppressor) **M47 Dragon RC missile **M79 grenade launcher **M92F handgun (with suppressor) **RPG-7V rocket launcher *Personal equipment **Antenna **Antidote **Binoculars **Body armor **Bomb blast suit **Cardboard box **Compass **Flashlight **Gas mask **Mine detector **Oxygen tank **Parachute **Ration **Thermal goggles **Uniform Uniform The Uniform for officers within Outer Heaven, or at least its top half, had red epaulets, a gray suit, a black belt with a side overall restraint, gold cufflinks on the sleeves, and a black tie.This is implied with the sprite depicting the "Uniform" disguise Behind the scenes In the [[Metal Gear (NES)|NES version of Metal Gear]], the Outer Heaven fortress is notably different in appearance, location, and even size from that in the original MSX2 version. For a full list of differences between the two versions, see here. In the manual for the NES version, some of the fortress personnel are given names that aren't present in the original version: the soldiers that guard the entrance to Building 2 are named "Checkpoint Charlie"; the soldiers who activate the electrified floors whenever an alert is triggered are named "The Electrocutioner"; those who did watch duty until they changed shifts are named "Corporal Watchman"; the ones that fall asleep on duty are named "B.A. Dozer"; and the rest are named "Soldiers of Fortune." Also, the same manual mentions that the scorpions found in Desert 2 are "trained killer scorpions," whereas the original version implies that they are wild scorpions, which presented a hazard to Snake. In the Japanese Famicom version, these fodder enemies are given more generic names (i.e. "sleeping soldier", "electric panel man", "attack soldiers"). In Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, Kyle Schneider states that children were present in Outer Heaven, even though none are actually seen in the original Metal Gear.Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake (re-release), Kojima Productions (2006). Solid Snake: What are you saying, Schneider? // Kyle Schneider: ...Snake, after you destroyed Metal Gear, NATO launched a massive bombing campaign against Outer Heaven. All of us Resistance fighters...and the children of Outer Heaven...they didn't care about any of us. There was no escape from the flames... They died like animals in a cage. // Snake: I... can't believe this... // Schneider: Think about it. The children of Outer Heaven were originally was orphans and refugees from all over the world. They were a liability... and NATO didn't want to deal with them... // Snake: ...No... In the Previous Operations section of Metal Gear Solid, the fortress is described as being "impenetrable."Metal Gear Solid, Konami Computer Entertainment Japan (1998). Special > Previous Operations > Metal Gear The armed fortress nation, Outer Heaven, collapsed. The impenetrable fortress made from the best military technology, and occupied by the toughest mercenaries burned in flames. In the non-canonical sequel Metal Gear: Ghost Babel, the fortress is stated to have been located in the mountains. However, the same game also states that the fortress was in Gindra, a fictional Central African country, rather than the Republic of South Africa. There are also various buildings besides the main three (of which the Metal Gear building was implied to be the Maintenance Base, which is on a mountain instead of at a desert). In pre-release screencaps for Metal Gear, shown as part of an advertising flier, it was shown that the chain-link fence in the prison courtyard of Building 1 was originally supposed to be a wooden fence.https://twitter.com/Arc_Hound/status/1016494099359240192 Appearances * Metal Gear * Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake (mentioned) * Metal Gear Solid (mentioned) * Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (mentioned) * Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (mentioned) * Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (mentioned) Sources * Metal Gear Solid 4 Database References Category:Military installations Category:Research facilities Category:Outer Heaven